CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: David Carvalho gets a sneak preview of WAVE costume entries on judging day; tours Shearwater's Early Childhood Centre; and visits the workshops with (from left) Head of Education Gillian Rogers, Textiles teacher Vanessa Strickland and Head of Operations Steve Laughton.

Last Thursday, Shearwater hosted a visit from David Carvalho, CEO of the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA), as part of a two-month tour, encompassing Sydney CBD, Wagga, Dubbo, Tamworth, Tweed Heads and other regional centres. The objective of the visit was to see, and hear from, rural and regional schools as a prelude to the upcoming NSW curriculum review.

During his visit, David experienced something of the scope of our learning program and its values: meeting and speaking with teachers and children, from Preschool to senior High School. He also took in the beautiful setting and expansive grounds of our campus, toured classrooms and workshops and was even treated to a sneak preview of WAVE costume entries, as the models and designers prepared for judging.

The impressions from David’s tour will augment the findings of the review, which will be used to build on the strengths of the current curriculum, while also providing scope to identify a direction for improvements. An overall approach to the way the curriculum is organised and presented in NSW is planned, and this includes articulating the purposes of the school curriculum, including underpinning philosophies and principles, and the appropriate scope for school community choices about content. There is also recognition, in the terms of reference for the review, that overcrowding may be an issue in the current curriculum framework and that priorities need to be identified for learning at different stages of schooling.

According to David: "We need to be careful, in the forthcoming review of the NSW Curriculum, [not to] fall into the trap of [only] thinking about models and thinking about systems. Education is an extremely dynamic process all about relationships - ecologies rather than systems."